Erin E. Girard

Erin E. Girard is a partner in the firm’s Land Use Practice. She has significant experience in a wide range of complex commercial, institutional, and mixed-use projects and works closely with her clients and the relevant government authorities to address a variety of legal and regulatory issues before they lead to costly delays.

Erin represents a diverse group of clients, including developers, nonprofits, institutional entities, commercial property owners, and individuals. Her practice areas include due diligence review, zoning entitlements, rezoning, variances, special exceptions/conditional uses, subdivision approvals, historic preservation, annexations, condemnation and abandonment, master plan development and implementation, and other land use issues. Erin handles all aspects of the regulatory permitting and licensing processes, including administrative appeals, and has experience in representing clients before various government authorities in Montgomery County, Rockville, and Gaithersburg, as well as the Maryland state courts.

Erin relies on her extensive knowledge of local ordinances and Maryland law to spearhead the legal side of major development projects and executes long-range strategies designed to successfully navigate the complexities involved. In many cases, this incorporates years of dedicated planning and creative problem-solving while working closely with the project’s key stakeholders and relevant regulatory agencies.

Clients trust Erin’s strong leadership and meticulous organization to keep their projects moving forward. Among her many strengths is her ability to identify potential problems and offer insightful solutions before such issues create unanticipated delays. Erin demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to her clients, consistently providing the careful scrutiny and oversight that each project demands.

Significant Projects

Provides land use, zoning and litigation representation for Westwood Shopping Center, a 25-acre property in the Westbard area of Bethesda.

Represents commercial client in obtaining entitlements necessary for redevelopment of the aging Cabin John Shopping Center into exciting neighborhood-serving retail center to be named Cabin John Village.

Obtained Preliminary Plan approval for Jesus House, DC for a 1600-seat church and associated 350-seat school in Cloverly.

Assisted with the land use and zoning representation of Suburban Hospital for its expansion, which included a Special Exception/Conditional Use, Variances, a road abandonment, Site and Preliminary Plan approvals and extensive litigation.

Obtained Conditional Use approval for a 140 bed luxury assisted living facility in Potomac, MD and provides litigation representation for the on-going appeal of that approval.

Obtained Conditional Use and related entitlement approvals for Olney Assisted Living and 8301 River Road, both memory care assisted living residences.

Assisted with the land use and zoning representation for Gables, White Flint, a 3 building mixed-use development in White Flint.

Obtained Site Plan, Preliminary Plan and abandonment approvals for 8015 Old Georgetown Road, a mixed-use development with residential, Church, community center and daycare uses in Bethesda.

Assisted with the annexation and entitlements for the CarMax on Shady Grove Road, Gaithersburg.

Provides land use and zoning representation for Sketch and Site Plan approvals for the Guardian Building, a mixed-use adaptive re-use project at 8605 Cameron Street in Silver Spring.

Assisted with the land use and zoning representation for Ingleside at King Farm.

Obtained rezoning approvals for two industrial properties along Gude Drive in Rockville.

Professional Background

Linowes and Blocher LLP

Partner, 2010–present

Associate, 2001–2010

Law Clerk, 2000–2001

Urban Land Institute’s Regional Land Use Leadership Institute, 2013–2014